On the first day of school, many students were surprised to see the freshman STEM hallway closed. Now, instead of easily cutting through, students must go around the front of the school to get to the breezeway.

“To prevent a congestion issue, we decided to reroute some the traffic in a different direction this year,” freshman principal Julius Anderson said.

Anderson said the decision to close the hallway was made during the summer.

“The solution [to close] the hallway was probably the best,” Anderson said. “The first week we actually had to stand some teachers at the ends of the halls to kind of point kids in the right direction.”

Now that students have had some time to adjust, Anderson said the change seems to be working.

“The kids know now which direction to go,” Anderson said. “You don’t have the congestion at the end of the hallway like you did last year, so I feel that the plan has been effective.”

Despite student complaints that other areas of the hallways are now crowded, Anderson said there are no plans to reopen the hallway. However, the administration is always evaluating areas of concern.